As farm enterprises increase in size and have multiple crops, multiple soil types, multiple plantings, multiple irrigation requirements, nutrition, pest and disease management, changing weather conditions, sustainable farm economics with quality produce and parameters, variable grading, packaging and transport of produce for the markets and quest for consistency of produce year after year warrants the demand for an automated decision making tool to save growers' time and resources on such management decisions as to what inputs to use, how much to use, when to use and frequency of use, and how to use profitably.
Irrigation of crops and proper nutrient application is critical to optimum plant growth and yield. A fertile soil, i.e. one that contains an adequate supply of all the nutrients required for the successful production of plant life, is important because the full potential of crops may never be realized if a shortage of nutrients occurs at any time during the growth cycle.
The productive capacity and the soils on farms and individual paddocks on a farm can vary widely. Thus, there are no solutions that can be applied across all farms, or even all paddocks. In order to manage this complicated system, growers need to make use of some or all the diagnostic tools that are available. Some of the diagnostic tools that have been employed include soil tests for all nutrients in elemental form, plant tissue tests to detect all elemental deficiencies/toxicities, tissue and Sap tests and near infra-red reflectance (NIR) tests to determine nutrient status. Monitoring can include remote sensing, optical sensors, drones, robots, and satellites, as well as manual observation, and all forms of imagery such as light spectrum, electro-magnetic, radio-isotopic etc., and other sources of data.
Fertilizers and other farm inputs represent a substantial annual expenditure for growers. Applying the inputs at the right time and in the optimal amount can lead to more profitable farming. When cost-savings is important, optimization of the nutrient application is preferable to reducing the number or frequency of applications, which can lead to reduced productivity and profitability. Using too much is costly, wasteful and has potential environmental effects. Using too little makes the yield less productive and consequently less profitable. Improved methods are needed for determining what nutrients are required, the optimal time for applying the nutrients, and the optimal amount of nutrients to be applied, so that yield can be improved. Achieving yield improvement has been difficult, because many factors come into play.
Some of the factors to be considered include the following. To achieve maximum yield, crops require adequate supply of essential plant nutrients. Ideally, the determination of what constitutes an adequate supply should take into account deficiencies/toxicities, inefficiencies in nutrient availability to the plant (due to chemical nature of fertilizers, soil type, plant growth and environmental factors) and nutrient removal by production of the crop. The decision on how much fertilizer or other nutrients to apply is complex, as many factors are outside the farmer's control. Assessment of nutrient availability from the soil (using soil tests), calculation of the nutrients removed in produce (based on target yield of crop to be grown), and the gathering of local trial data and experience are some of the factors that should be employed to determine a fertilizer application rate. Both external factors and factors that are inherent in the plants will have an influence on the rate of active nutrient absorption. The rate of nutrient absorption can be influenced by the growth stage of the plants, the crop type and variety, the type of nutrient, the climate and the soil
Computer simulation models may be available that can accept information from soil tests, local trial data, research and experience to generate the optimal application rates. However, even once the correct application rates have been established, placement and timing of application must be considered. External factors including weather can have an important affect on nutrient requirements and effectiveness. Temperature (metabolic rate), light (photosynthesis and biomass production), oxygen, respiration and metabolic rate, and carbon dioxide concentration should be taken into account, and factored into application recommendations, along with consideration of the pH of the soil, concentration of solutes in soil solution and interactions between ions.
For example, if weather forecasters are predicting a hotter than normal season, a grower may wish to apply products with stress relief and/or cell strengthening features, such as one or more of the following products that are commercially available from Agrichem: Stand SKH™ (a NPK 0-0-15 product also containing 20% silica and 1% humic acid), Enhance KCS™ (NPK 2-0-5, 7% Ca 4.1% S 11% Si), and Kelpak™ (a product containing 11 mg/L auxins, 0.031 mg/L cytokinins), and a mixture of these products in certain concentrations help plants to overcome heat effects, and/or Supa Humus™ (NPK 0-0-2 with 26% humic acid), to enhance the water retention properties of soil.
The failure to consider all factors can lead to inefficiencies. Proper consideration of all factors can reduce the error and improve efficiency of a wide range of nutrients and other agricultural chemicals. Proper consideration of all factors can also result in increased yield.
Thus, a method for automatically collecting and compiling data related to all relevant factors and generating optimal application recommendations based upon all of these factors would be desirable. Additionally desirable, would be a method for automatically scheduling input application tasks, generating instructions for implementation of the tasks, and confirming that the tasks have been completed. Desirably, the amount of human error could be reduced, labor and management costs could be reduced, yield could be maximized and therefore profitability could be maximized.